


What's in a Nickname

by memyselfandmine



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: M/M, Nicknames, baby foxes, knife, one nickname in particular
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 09:11:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15771048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memyselfandmine/pseuds/memyselfandmine
Summary: When Andrew and a new Fox share a name, the team tries to give them nicknames. Nicky's mouth may get away from him a little.





	What's in a Nickname

The team felt different without the girls. They had been gone, it was Matt and the monsters’ last year. The new recruits from last year weren’t new anymore. The ones from two years ago acted like they’d been here for ages. Neil knew they were still all Foxes, a team. But they weren’t the same family they were when he first joined. It wasn’t bad; just different.  
The team was settled in the locker room, waiting for Wymack to show up with files on the Catamounts new players so they could go over new strategies. The new recruits were restless, and Matt and Nicky were wrangling them as best they could, Aaron watching boredly as they arm wrestled on the floor. One of the dealer’s rolled past their feet to get in on the action. Andrew shifted imperceptibly away from them on the couch. His thigh pressed closer to Neil’s, and Neil smiled to himself.  
One of the new strikers, the one with the affinity for fire (given the way he almost burnt down Fox Tower the other night), cruised in. “Andrew!” he called out.  
Andrew and the newer recruit, Andrew Beckett, both turned to him, the former unwillingly.  
“No, I mean—dealer Andrew.”  
Dealer Andrew frowned. “Don’t call me ‘dealer Andrew,’ man. It feels weird.”  
“This is too confusing,” the striker whined.  
“Yeah, we need to come up with new things to call you guys,” Nicky piped up from where he was arm wrestling a different dealer. He soundly slammed the dealer’s arm into the armrest of the couch and sat on the other side of Andrew on the couch. Neil could feel him rolling his eyes. “Ideas, people?”  
“Well, we could just call him dealer Andrew,” one of the goalies suggested, pointing at dealer Andrew.  
Aaron rolled his eyes. “He just said he didn’t like that. Pay attention.”  
“How about Andrew M and Andrew B?”  
“What are we, middle schoolers?”  
Privately, Neil thought that Andrew shouldn’t have to change his name. It was Andrew’s last year, and dealer Andrew only just got here.  
“Dealer Andrew, what’s your middle initial?”  
“Dude, I told you not to call me—ugh, whatever. It’s Robert.”  
“AR—not a very good nickname,” Aaron chimed in.  
“Oh, hey!” Nicky cut in excitedly. “Andrew’s middle name is Joseph, we could call him AJ—!”  
Nicky stopped talking. For some reason, no one noticed the abrupt change in the atmosphere around the couch except Neil, Matt and Aaron. They watched avidly from where they sat, Matt on the floor looking wary and Aaron in the opposite arm chair, more interested than anything. Andrew’s eyes were still gazing off into nothing, but his calm demeanor was betrayed by the tightness of his grip on the blade held to his cousin’s stomach.  
“Don’t,” Andrew said quietly, “call me that.”  
Their other team members kept chatting about dealer Andrew’s name, oblivious to what was going on. Neil could see the Nicky’s chest rising and falling, shallowly, rapidly. He could feel Matt and Aaron’s eyes burning into him, now. They were the only ones from his original team, back when Andrew had more reason to lash out, and they were still discovering who he yielded to. He thought randomly of Renee, how she used to step in to pull Andrew back, and how that role had fallen to him. He almost wished she were still there to take the reins again. He didn’t like leashing Andrew. Nicky let out the smallest noise, between a whimper and a sigh. He decided it was time to step in.  
“Andrew,” he said quietly. “Andrew,” he said again. Andrew cut his eyes to Neil. After what felt like an eternity, he slowly withdrew his blade, slipping it back into his armband. His eyes were dull.  
Nicky ran a hand through his hair and sighed shakily, leaning back against the couch. Matt leaned over and patted him on the arm.  
“Guys?” the new goalie, Robin, asked timidly from the floor. “Nicky? Are you okay?”  
Nicky started. “Yeah!” he said, too brightly. He dropped his hand back into his lap. “Just kinda, zoned out for a second . . .” He trailed off, and Robin looked at him strangely.  
Neil jumped in. “Why don’t we just call you Beckett?” he asked dealer Andrew.  
Dealer Andrew, last name Beckett, shrugged. “Sure, last names are cool.”  
“Nice.” The rest of the team fell back into regular chatter again, Nicky and Matt joining them.  
Neil gave Andrew a look. “What was that about?” he asked.  
Andrew looked away. “Later,” he said. Neil was about to argue, but at that moment Wymack burst in with a stack of file folders. He let it drop.

 

“So,” Neil started later that night, while he and Andrew were perched on the roof. “What happened earlier today?”  
“A lot of things. Be more specific.”  
Neil barely refrained from rolled his eyes. “The locker room. Your reaction.”  
Andrew inhaled deeply around a cigarette and said nothing.  
“The nickname AJ.”  
Andrew froze, cigarette between his fingers slipping a millimeter. “Don’t.”  
Neil pushed. “What’s your problem with it?” He watched the fingers of Andrew’s free hand tap against the concrete roof, a light, disjointed beat. He waited.  
“They used to call me that in foster care,” Andrew said, after an age. “Cass’s family called me that.”  
“Cass’s—oh,” Neil realized belatedly. Andrew gave him an unimpressed look.  
“He figures it out, finally.”  
“I didn’t mean to—I didn’t want—”  
“It’s in the past,” Andrew reminded him.  
“But still—”  
“Neil,” Andrew cut in. “Stop talking.”  
Neil stopped talking. Andrew turned away from him and looked up at the darkening sky. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”  
“Okay.” Neil watched him watch the sky.  
After a while, Andrew muttered, “Staring.”  
“Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
